OOPS I MISSED A HALLOWEEN POST, I sure did. So I will attempt a 30 minute catch up. that means mostly photos...throwing in a few family ones for posterity...fewer words...impossible...and no proof reading...that heads this toward disaster. so here goes.

it is true...one childhood is not enough...especially for halloween. we saw so many adults dressed up, and i mean dressed up. old to young to youngest, all join the fun.

anyway this is my little attempt to bring painting into the picture.

i never got the left side finished, anyway it tells a story of my scariest halloween as a child...story saved for another day.

i took sooo many photos of our yard and porch, now i can't find them so obviously they are still in the camera and haven't been downloaded...such is life around here. but at least my sketchbook got a touch of ORANGE...i love orange in the fall but other times of the year not so much..orange and black were our junior high school colors and i really disliked them at that age...so juvenile.

Good ol' harry was soooo popular....every other kid was a character from this fantastic series of books...this red robed harry is our grandson...doesn't he look like harry, or am i prejudiced and below next to the scarecrow is his sister...the littlest was Anna from Frozen...she disappeared (probably to refreshment table) so didn't get a picture.

we are still foraging for leaves, dried berries and acorns...but the pumpkin patch was the real find...we took a car full of tiny to tall, fat to skinny, smooth to lumpy pumpkins home with us.

the kids grandparents from "out west"came for a two week stay...what a fun time for everyone...they were a big part of our october excursions...

somehow i managed to get a bit of painting done with an autumn palette...have a show next week so under a bit of pressure to paint and play around with the fun-sters!

kids and art just go together like cocoa and marshmallows...sweet, fun and sticky. here we are studiously, painstakingly working on pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. no messing around, this is serious stuff to get it just right.

across the atlantic or pacific depending which way you fly are the kiddos that live in china...this is a serious holiday for the ex-pats who live there and none get into it more than their papa...

papa is concentrating on carving while YiYi sits in her princess dress amidst the seeds and pulp. note the type of pumpkin they have....pretty cute. then it is off to the most amazing clay...love the colors. lots of cute characters made by 12 hands.

back to north carolina, the kiddos made lunches for some lovely women who find themselves without a home and staying at the salvation army. they were guests of a local church who give them respite, a warm place to sleep, and three meals a day. lots of volunteers are needed for such an undertaking, so our family did lunches and a breakfast.

bags were decorated...sandwiches made...brownies...chips...and personally chosen tiny candy bars filled them to the top. we drove them down to the church and met the ladies who are having their most beautiful weeks in a long time. so friendly and welcoming. we left with new friends.

well if you made it this far, let me just wish you a very giving, creative, loving november. there is always time to think of another. i know that you are finding your own ways of sharing.